wfn.org | More Than 600 Presbyterians "Stand For Children"

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Date: 27-Jun-96 
 
96244    More Than 600 Presbyterians "Stand For Children" 
 
WASHINGTON--"Stand for children, we are your future," sang the children's 
choir of Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church as a congregation of more 
than 600 Presbyterians gathered here to participate in the June 1 "Stand 
for Children." 
 
     The preliminary Presbyterian Prayer Breakfast was held at the New York 
Avenue Presbyterian Church prior to the national event later in the day at 
the Lincoln Memorial. 
 
     "I am overwhelmed by the turnout for this important event," said the 
Rev. Robert H. Craig, pastor of the New York Avenue Church and honorary 
host for the prayer breakfast.  "Presbyterians from Maine, Kentucky, New 
York and North Carolina rode on buses all night long to get here, then 
turned around and left that evening to drive the next night through to get 
home for church on Sunday morning. The individual Presbyterian commitment 
to children's issues is remarkable," he noted. 
 
     The breakfast menu was modeled after the national School Lunch 
Program. 
 
     Sounding the theme for the day, the call to worship after breakfast 
stated: "Jesus called a child and put it among them and said,  Truly I tell 
you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the 
kingdom of heaven.'" 
 
     The congregation responded: "We come together today seeking the 
vision, understanding and commitment to  welcome' the children as you would 
have us.  Be with us now in our worship, O God, that we may both find the 
trusting faithfulness of children and assume our adult responsibility to 
nurture and protect all children." 
 
     The Rev. Eileen W. Lindner, a Presbyterian minister and associate for 
ecumenical relations for the National Council of Churches, preached. 
Lindner, a well-known child advocate, told personal stories that outlined 
children's issues.  She concluded: "Our call is quite clear -- the 
privileged must work to help the less advantaged." 
 
     Children figured prominently in the service.  In addition to the 
25-voice Sargent Memorial Church children's choir, Chris Durosinimi, a 
7-year-old second-grader who attends Central Presbyterian Church in New 
York City, challenged the congregation with his personal testimony. 
 
     "Today I pledge to be the best possible me," Durosinimi promised.  "No 
matter how good I am, I know that I can become better.  We are the children 
of your world who grow so that our servanthood can be laid upon humanity's 
steps. 
 
     "We are the children of your world who have dropped many tears -- why 
are you so far from us when you should be near?" he continued.  "We were 
not placed in your world to be drunk, drugged up or destroyed.  Teach us to 
live as sisters and brothers in harmony.  Keep us from wandering into the 
wasteland of immorality!  Look out, world -- we're on our way and everybody 
awaits our arrival!" 
 
     Going back to 1958, Presbyterian General Assemblies have expressed 
concern about the state of the world's children.  In a 1991 statement 
entitled "The Status and Needs of Children" the Assembly said, "The status 
of children in our communities, our nation, and throughout the world 
constitutes a crisis involving poverty and inadequate education and health 
care. ..." 
 
     That Assembly directed "the agencies of the General Assembly and the 
governing bodies and congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to 
develop clear strategies and specific programs to defend and improve the 
status of children and to address their current critical needs in 
education, nutrition, health care, housing and security from abuse and 
exploitation ..." and "to advocate and support the development and 
implementation of public and private policies" to address those needs. 
 
     Praising the gathering, Rebecca L. Davis, associate executive 
presbyter for Peace River Presbytery and chair of the Presbyterian Child 
Advocacy Network, said, "There is a synergy that happens only when worship, 
faith and practice converge.  It seems to me that through the Presbyterian 
Prayer Breakfast and the Stand for Children, the great ends of the church 
were acclaimed. 
 
     "When children go to bed hungry, arrive home to empty houses after 
school at the age of six, face the threat of violence in their own backyard 
or know far too intimately the feel of fist clashing with skin, then we are 
not providing a supportive environment that allows growth in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord." 
 
     Davis continued, "The Presbyterian Prayer Breakfast and the Stand for 
Children provided an opportunity for the body of Christ to come together 
physically and corporately to renew our baptismal vows and to recommit 
ourselves to a ministry for and with children.  All in all it was one of 
the most glorious exhibitions of the kingdom of heaven we have witnessed in 
many a year." 
 
     The Presbyterian contingent then joined some 200,000 child advocates 
for the rally at the Lincoln Memorial, which was spearheaded by Marian 
Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund. 
 
     In her keynote address, Edelman stated, "We are at a critical moment 
in our nation's history -- the eve of a new millennium, when our nation's 
legacy is at stake, a time when the decisions we now make will shape the 
future for our children and our nation in the coming century." 
 
     She challenged the crowd: "Parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, 
big brothers and big sisters, students and educators, advocates and 
nurturers ourselves will commit to doing better for children and commit to 
holding our cultural, business and political leaders responsible for doing 
more for children.  Leave no child behind!" 
 
(Information for this story furnished by Doug Grace, Presbyterian 
Washington Office) 

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